The vehicles are used in the mass movement of personnel including but not limiting to security personnel, and materials including but not limiting to explosives. With the increasing incidence of terrorism the world over such vehicles are often targeted by terrorists by exploding mines, grenades, bombs etc. The explosion generates explosion force and energy, which may also be referred to as blast air force and energy because any explosion results in flow of air in such a manner and to such an extent that it cannot only topple the vehicle but can also damage the vehicle or part thereof. An explosion occurring under the vehicle and/or below the wheels of the vehicle and/or on side of the vehicle, depending upon the force and energy generated, can topple the vehicle and/or damage the vehicle or part thereof. The toppling of the vehicle, depending upon the blast force and energy generated, can destabilize the vehicle, and hence, can cause injury to the passengers and damage structure of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,967 provides add-on armor plate, ballistic spall liner, which is installable on the inner surface of the unprotected vehicle. As per the patent, the liner is capable of providing protection to the vehicle occupants and internal equipment from risk of injury or damage which can be caused due to flying metallic debris on penetration of a projectile into wall of the vehicle.
The main problem of an arrangement provided by US '967 is that it cannot protect toppling of and damage to the vehicle if blast takes place under the vehicle and/or under the wheels and/or on sides of the vehicle, because the liner is effective to dissipate projectile force only and not effective to dissipate explosion force and energy caused due to blast under the vehicle and/or under the wheels and/or on sides of the vehicle. The plate liner of US '967 cannot overcome damaging effects of blast air force and energy which can cause impact flow of air to such an extent that the vehicle not only topples but also gets damaged, and thereby, causes injury and damage to the occupants and internal equipment.
Another problem of an arrangement provided by US '967 is that it requires specially designed and produced plate liner which has to comprise multiple layers of various different materials including a delaminating base layer comprised of at least three plies of high tensile strength fabric, first continuous facing layer of martensite sheet steel, a delaminating intermediate layer comprised of at least three plies of a high tensile strength fabric, a second continuous facing layer of martensite sheet steel, an elongating outer layer comprised of at least three plies of high tensile strength fabric, wherein each of the layers has to be bonded to adjacent layers so as to form a rigid laminated armor plate liner, which will not only increase weight of the vehicle, but will also increase cost of manufacturing the vehicle. It is obviously known that increase in weight of the vehicle results in greater difficulty when it has to climb on the hilly area and overall poor efficiency. Further, increase in weight impedes maneuvering of the vehicle, and thereby, makes the vehicle an easier target for attack.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,781 provides a system wherein a fibrous material is bonded to the upper surface of the floor and a ballistic panel/blast shield is disposed below the floor and is spaced from the lower surface of the floor in such a manner that it creates an air gap. As per this patent, the panel, air gap, resilient material and flooring is capable of providing resistance to blast pressure caused due to underneath blast.
The main problem of the system provided in US '781 is that the air gap between ballistic panel/blast shield and lower surface of the floor is only capable of reducing blast pressure by causing bending of ballistic panel/blast shield towards the floor due to air gap formed therein.
Even system of US '781 cannot substantially protect toppling of the vehicle if blast takes place under the vehicle.
Further, even system of US '781 cannot protect toppling of and damage to the vehicle if blast takes place under the wheels and/or on sides of the vehicle, because the ballistic panel/blast shield of this patent is effective only to dissipate blast pressure caused due to underneath blast and not effective to dissipate explosion force and energy caused due to blast under the wheels and/or on sides of the vehicle. Therefore, the ballistic panel/blast shield cannot overcome damaging effects of blast air force and energy which can cause impact flow of air to such an extent that the vehicle not only topples but also gets damaged, and thereby, causes injury and damage to the personnel and internal material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,866,839 provides an armor protection system by utilizing armor deflection technique for blocking armor piercing weapons, which is achieved by providing metal balls organized in a ‘very’ special pattern to generate blocking force against armor piercing weapons.
The main problem of system provided by US '839 is that the armor protection system requires arrangement of metal balls in a ‘very’ special pattern, which is possible by a highly skilled person.
Another problem of system provided by US '839 is that metal balls are either of titanium or of magnesium, which are very expensive materials, and hence, the cost of system is very high.
Further, problem of system provided by US '839 is that arrangement of balls is required to be provided all around the tank or fighting vehicle for maximum coverage, which means the part of the vehicle not provided with this arrangement is prone to damage.
Still another problem of system provided by US '839 is that the special arrangement of metal balls is only capable of deflecting the kinetic energy of the weapons and to stop the weapons which touch the vehicle and is intended to pierce the vehicle, but is not capable of protecting the vehicle from toppling and damage if blast takes place under the vehicle and/or under the wheels and/or on sides of the vehicle, because special arrangement of metal balls is not effective to dissipate explosion force and energy caused due to blast under the vehicle and/or wheels and/or on sides of the vehicle.
Therefore, even special arrangement of metal balls of US '839 cannot overcome damaging and toppling effects of blast air force and energy which can cause impact flow of air to such an extent that the vehicle not only topples but also gets damaged, and thereby, causes injury and damage to the crew and materials therein.
An attempt to avoid damage to the vehicle due to blast under the vehicle has been made by U.S. Pat. No. 6,658,984, by providing anti-mine concave floor plate, which is provided in such a manner that a sufficient ground clearance and clear distance between the concave floor plate and spring bars or support arms mounted above the floor plate is available. As per this patent, the damage to vehicle is avoided due to clear distance between the concave floor plate and the built-in parts of the vehicle which in the event of a mine detonation beneath the vehicle allows the concave floor plate to form a dynamic bulge.
The main problem of system provided by US '984 is that it cannot substantially protect toppling of and damage to the vehicle even if blast takes place under the vehicle, because the clear distance between concave floor plate and floor of the vehicle is limited, and therefore, can only protect the vehicle from blast of limited intensity.
Further, even system of US '984 cannot protect toppling of and damage to the vehicle if blast takes place under the wheels and/or on sides of the vehicle, because concave floor plate of this patent is effective only to dissipate blast pressure caused due to underneath blast and not effective to dissipate explosion force and energy caused due to blast under the wheels and/or on sides of the vehicle.
Therefore, the concave floor plate of US '984 cannot overcome damaging effects of blast air force and energy which can cause impact flow of air to such an extent that the vehicle not only topples but also gets damaged, and thereby, causes injury and damage to the personnel and internal material.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,779,431 also attempts to avoid damage to the vehicle due to blast under the vehicle by providing an arrangement consisting of a foot floor comprising of rigid self-supporting material, wherein the foot floor is arranged above the vehicle inner floor and is supported thereon by air spring bags solely at its edge regions and is connected to vehicle floor with the help of flexible connecting elements in the form of straps and bands in such a manner that it forms a spacing with the vehicle inner floor. As per this patent, no rigid connection exists between the foot floor and sidewalls of the vehicle, and between the foot floor and inner floor of the vehicle. The transmission of the impulse wave, caused due to mine blast, is prevented from vehicle inner floor onto foot floor by the flexible connecting elements. The air spring bags support foot floor onto vehicle inner floor without providing any rigid connection there-between, and capability to support foot floor depends upon air pressure in air spring bags. In absence of rigid connection between foot floor and sidewalls of the vehicle, and between foot floor and inner floor of the vehicle, the balancing of foot floor is achieved by flexible connecting elements—the straps or bands.
Accordingly, it is understood that as per US '431 the capability to withstand blast force and energy on account of blast under the vehicle will depend upon the air pressure in the air spring bags and strength of flexible connecting elements. Therefore, such an arrangement will not be capable of preventing damage to the vehicle when air pressure of air spring bags is leaked and/or when flexible connecting elements gets weak over the period of time.
Therefore, the main problem of system provided by US '431 is that it also cannot protect toppling of and damage to the vehicle even if blast takes place under the vehicle.
Further, even system of US '431 cannot protect toppling of and damage to the vehicle if blast takes place under the wheels and/or on sides of the vehicle, because no solution to these problems has been proposed in this patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,255,034 also makes an attempt to avoid damage to the vehicle due to blast under the vehicle by providing an inwardly bend bottom plate on the underside of the vehicle body in such a manner that a spacing is formed between the bottom plate and floorboard. As per this patent, the damage to the vehicle is avoided due to capability of the bottom plate to form dynamic inward buckling in a deformation space between the bottom plate and the floorboard without causing injury to the occupants of the vehicle.
Accordingly, it is once again understood that as per US '034 damage to vehicle can be avoided only to the extent to which dynamic inward buckling can take place in the bottom plate, and hence, will depend upon the spacing between the bottom plate and floorboard. As extent of dynamic inward buckling, and spacing between the bottom plate and floorboard are limited, the capability of such an arrangement to avoid the damage, therefore, will also be limited.
Therefore, even arrangement provided in US '034 cannot substantially protect toppling of and damage to the vehicle even if blast takes place under the vehicle.
Further, even system of US '034 cannot protect toppling of and damage to the vehicle if blast takes place under the wheels and/or on sides of the vehicle, because bottom plate of this patent is restrictively effective only to dissipate effect of underneath blast and not effective to dissipate explosion force and energy caused due to blast under the wheels and/or on sides of the vehicle.
Therefore, the bottom plate of US '034 also cannot overcome damaging effects of blast air force and energy which can cause impact flow of air to such an extent that the vehicle not only topples but also gets damaged, and thereby, causes injury and damage to the personnel and internal material.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,357,062 also makes an attempt to avoid damage to the vehicle due to blast under the vehicle by forming specially designed substantially V-shaped bottom portion of the vehicle having particular apex, tip and angle. In accordance with this patent, the effect of blast is absorbed by V-shaped structure of bottom portion and a metal energy-absorbing member which extends longitudinally along and is affixed to the interior of the apex of the V-shaped bottom portion, and the metal energy-absorbing member is a metal pipe, which is provided for diverting the penetrating material. Additionally, there is provided a sheet armor comprised of rigid polymer/fiber composite adjacent to the interior surface of the body in such a manner that it forms a gap from the interior surface.
Accordingly, it is understood that as per US '062 capability of vehicle to avoid damage will depend upon design of V-shaped structure of bottom portion and obviously distance of its tip from the road and capability of metal energy-absorbing member. Additionally, on the capability of the sheet armor to withstand the blast force and its distance from interior surface of body, which upon intense blast may form dynamic inward buckling in the space between sheet armor and interior surface of the body. Further, the sheet armor being rigid composite and being provided adjacent to the interior surface of the body while forming a gap therefrom can neither stop and divert the flying debris and shrapnel entering or hitting the walls of vehicle, nor can dissipate the blast energy. Further, as distance of tip of V-shaped bottom portion from the road, capability of metal energy-absorbing member, capability of the sheet armor to withstand the blast force, distance of the sheet armor from interior surface of body are limited, the capability of such an arrangement to avoid the damage, therefore, will also be limited.
Therefore, even arrangement provided in US '062 cannot substantially protect toppling of and damage to the vehicle even if blast takes place under the vehicle.
Further, even system of US '062 cannot protect toppling of and damage to the vehicle if blast takes place under the wheels and/or on sides of the vehicle, because arrangement provided in US '062 is restrictively effective only to dissipate effect of underneath blast and not effective to dissipate explosion force and energy caused due to blast under the wheels and/or on sides of the vehicle.
Therefore, even arrangement of US '062 also cannot overcome damaging effects of blast air force and energy which can cause impact flow of air to such an extent that the vehicle not only topples but also gets damaged, and thereby, causes injury and damage to the personnel and internal material.
From the foregoing description, it is understood that none of the systems as known in the art is capable of dissipating explosion force and energy [may also be referred to as blast air force and energy] caused due to blast possibly at or around any point or angle of the vehicle, including blast under the vehicle and/or below the wheels, and/or on side of the vehicle, that's too without causing toppling and damage to the vehicle, and simultaneously providing safety and stability to the personnel and internal material even if vehicle is made from armor of low thickness.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a system for the vehicle which is capable of dissipating explosion force and energy [blast air force and energy] caused due to blast possibly at or around any point or angle of the vehicle, including blast under the vehicle and/or below the wheels, and/or on side of the vehicle, that's too without causing toppling and damage to the vehicle, and simultaneously providing safety and stability to the personnel and internal material even if vehicle is made from armor of low thickness.